


Take Me Back to the Start

by BookofOdym



Category: Blue Beetle (Comics), DCU, DCU (Comics), Justice League International (Comics)
Genre: Attempted Seduction, Inappropriate Humor, M/M, Max Stop Murdering, Murder, Seduction, They are JLI characters, Time Loop, multiple murder
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-13
Updated: 2020-08-17
Packaged: 2021-03-05 00:49:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25245673
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BookofOdym/pseuds/BookofOdym
Summary: Max asks Ted to join him, and Ted refuses. A gunshot rings out... and Ted finds himself nine months in the past, before any of this happens. Except it keeps happening, he keeps waking up on the same day, and eventually it becomes clear that the only way Ted is getting out of this is if he seduces the man who murdered him.
Relationships: Ted Kord/Maxwell Lord
Comments: 1
Kudos: 11





	1. Chapter 1

“Rot in Hell, Max.” Those had been the last words he’d said before the sound of a gunshot rang out, and everything had gone black. 

He had been expecting everything to stop, or maybe that he would go to the place that was reality but didn’t have any babes that Kent Nelson had saved him from so many years before. He hadn’t expected to wake up in his own sweat-soaked bed sometime in the middle of the night. 

One glance at the alarm clock told him that it was three in the morning, about nine months before the night that his dream said it was. So, it had been a dream then? That made sense, Max was a good guy, Max would never hurt him, when Ted and Booster had “borrowed” (well stolen, he supposed) JLI funds to build an island casino, Max had understandably been upset, but he’d let them off with a cleaning job. 

Well, and a stern warning that next time they should install a molecular genetic tester, just to make sure no one with probability manipulation powers cleared them out. No one had ever said Max hadn’t been the one to teach them how to run a get rich quick scheme. Max and Jeremiah. 

Ted should really call him, he was still a little shaken from the bad dream and hearing the older man’s voice would probably help out. 

His hands were shaking as they picked up his cell phone, and his thumbs moved so fast as he scrolled through his contacts list that it scrolled past Max’s name entirely. When it stopped, the ‘S’ names were what filled the screen. 

Sue Dibny. 

In his dream, she had died maybe a month or two before the OMAC fiasco. But if his clock was right, that had never happened. Sue dying was just another part of some awful, awful nightmare. Giving no thought to the time, his eyes already filling with tears, he pressed the call button. 

“Ted,” Her voice came, followed by a loud yawn, “Do you have any idea what time it is?” 

“How,” he asked, unable to keep his voice from cracking, “how are you feeling?” 

“ _Tired._ ” 

“You, uh, Jean,” How was he supposed to explain his worries without sounding insane, maybe he would anyway, it had been a dream for crying out loud. “I had a bad dream,” he said with a sigh, “you were in it, I was just a little bit worried.” 

“Oh Ted,” she sounded a lot fonder, suddenly, “It’s probably a good thing you called though, Ralph’s been going on and on about making a new Justice League team, for the second-stringers, he just can’t decide on a continent.” 

“How about Antarctica?” 

“Teddy no, please,” she said, and Ted heard Ralph’s voice shout ‘Yes! Back up!” from somewhere in the background. “Ralph, he wasn’t agreeing, he was making a joke.” 

Ralph clearly wasn’t listening. “Just gotta ask Major Disaster and we’re good to go, Max said he’d only fund us if we got three people!” 

The line clicked dead, and Ted imagined that Sue wasn’t going to get any more sleep for the rest of the night, he did feel a little bad about that, but all that he could do was enjoy his next few hours of shuteye for her. 

When he woke up, he had 47 new text messages. 

Most of them were from Ralph, excitedly discussing his plans, and completely oblivious to the fact that he wasn’t getting any response. 

Three though. Three of them were more concerning. 

They came from a contact labeled ‘Sugar Daddy :3’, a name that Max would probably murder him for if he ever found out about it. Except suddenly, the murder jokes seemed a lot less funny, and even looking at that name gave him a sick feeling in his stomach. 

The first one read: What the _fuck_ do you think you’re doing, Kord? 

The second one, dated ten minutes later, sounded even angrier: Don’t you dare ignore me, I know Dibny’s recruited you for his stupid scheme. 

The third one was from five minutes ago, it simply read: I’m coming over. 

Those three words sent a bubble of panic rising up Ted’s chest, and he spent a few moments taking deep breaths, trying to hold a panic attack at bay. It was stupid though, it was just Max. Did he really think Maxwell Lord was going to come into his apartment with a gun and blow his brains out? It had just been a dream. 

Dreams would generally feel a lot less real, wouldn’t they? It had been about five hours since he’d first jolted awake, and everything felt so vivid in his mind, normally he would have forgotten everything that happened in a dream by this point. Deciding that Max could wait for a little while longer, he tried to think of what had happened this morning in his dream. Something about an attack in Black Adam’s homeland. 

Tentatively. He reached towards the remote by his bed and turned it on. On the screen, exactly what he remembered was unfolding, complete with Black Adam’s arrogant speech. 

It was exactly the same, and for the first time, the possibility of time travel popped into his head. That was immediately followed by the thought of Booster, but... Ted really didn’t want to worry him, and that was all that was going to happen, because it wasn’t like Booster’s method of time travel could send consciousnesses back in time. No, it had to be another kind entirely.

Before he did anything else, sent a quick text to Ray Palmer, one that read: Can I come ask you a few questions about time travel? 

He paused, then sent the same question to William Magnus. It was probably better to get more than one opinion on this. 

Then, he slipped out the window, he wasn’t exactly in the mood to see Max at the moment, he was just going to take the Bug and leave. If he closed his eyes, he could practically hear the shout of “ **Bee** - _ **tle**_!” 

* * *

“You think you’re in danger?” Will asked, holding his pipe a few inches from his lips. He looked deep in thought. “From Maxwell Lord? Please tell me you did not build another casino.” 

“That’s not-” Beetle grunted, he should have known that this would happen, “I’m not in danger right now, because he doesn’t know that I know he’s in control of Checkmate...” 

“The government agency?” 

“Yeah, well, I mean... maybe, I’m not entirely sure what’s going on there. I know that if he finds out that I know, that’s when I’m in danger.” 

Magnus nodded along. “Bipolar disorder-” he started, but Ted didn’t listen to the rest. He just lowered his head down to the desk in front of him with a groan. No one had listened to him the first time around, about any of it, and he had been stupid to assume that things would be any different this time. 

* * *

Ray was slightly more helpful, mostly because Ted decided not to mention anything about Max to him. If people were going to assume that he was crazy, they might try to call his dear, sweet benefactor, to advise getting him some help, and he would really rather his second try at life lasted a little bit longer than a day. 

He’d just told Ray that a future encounter with a villain had gone badly and that he’d found himself back in his old body. The Atom was too compassionate to chuck him out on his ear. 

“It is... possible, as in, I’ve seen it before, but honestly, Ted...” Ray looked as though he was deep in thought for a moment. “The mechanics of it are beyond me, and if you’re looking for help or advice, Doctor Fate would be your best bet.” 

“I- do you think Fate would even talk to me?” 

“I’ll send a message through Alan Scott, just... try not to be naked when he visits you this time.” 

* * *

His apartment was dark when he returned. Darker than it should have been. Someone had drawn the curtains to better facilitate hiding in the gloom. Ted hoped to God it was Bruce. 

Shakily, his fingers found the light switch, and the bulbs flashed on, revealing Maxwell Lord sitting at his kitchen table, a wall of neatly stacked coffee cups making it obvious that he had drained all of Ted’s reserves in the time Blue Beetle was gone. 

“Will you at least give me money for more coffee?” 

Max’s smile gave absolutely nothing away, it was strange how disconcerting that could be when you knew he was your enemy. “Where are the millions and millions of dollars that your company produces every year?” 

That wasn’t... it was the principle of the matter, dammit! 

“It would be nice of you to pay me back,” Ted grumbled. 

“Hm,” don’t smile, don’t smile, why don’t you give any indication of how you really feel? “But I wouldn’t have drunk all that if you’d been here when you’d asked me to be. Why were you in New Jersey?” 

Blue Beetle froze. Did that mean that Max was tracking him? For how long? And how had he been doing it? Was it through Ted’s phone? He laughed, hoping it sounded genuine, but anything but a raucous Bwa-ha-ha-ha coming from his lips had to be at least a little suspicious. “I was visiting that one cute blonde, you remember the one.” 

“Hm,” Max said again, and wasn’t that rapidly becoming the most annoying sound in the world, “and you must have struck out because I see that you took the time to visit Magnus Labs while you were there. Why was that? Visiting an old teacher?” 

He paused, and Ted could have sworn his smile turned slightly evil. 

“You know, Will was concerned, he called me up saying all these things about psychotic episodes, and me being in control of a government agency...” 

Ted gritted his teeth. “Rot in Hell, Max.” 

* * *

Blue Beetle’s snapped open to the dark of his room once again. So, Max had killed him again. 

This early on, he was probably just too much of a liability to be kept around. 

This time, he needed to be much less erratic.


	2. Chapter 2

He’d panicked in the first loop, immediately gone running to everyone who he thought could help him, forgetting, of course, that no one had believed him the first time... the time before Max killed him. He was Blue Beetle, and no one was going to believe Blue Beetle, even if he’d never once made a joke about someone being seriously in danger. 

There was also the fact that despite his reputation as a bit of a dick, Max was a well-loved member of the superhero community, he’d funded the Justice League, he’d personally stepped in to stop more than a few PR disasters, he’d made it his mission to become close personal friends with all the founding members of the League. Sure, Oliver Queen didn’t like him, but that was Oliver... he hated every single person who’d ever been a CEO, probably including Ted. 

He just needed to avoid getting his hopes up, if he ran to the first person who came to mind, he’d just end up in the same position he did last time. He needed time to come up with a plan, and if he just lived his life like normal for this one day, he might manage it. 

Ted groaned, rolling out of bed and padding down to the kitchen, he’d woken up early, and the sun was still low on the horizon. Coffee. He needed coffee. 

With a full mug, he sat down by the kitchen table, scrolling through his phone. He’d gotten a few texts from Booster, two that were just bad jokes, and a third that just read ‘sleep well,’ sent about three hours after Ted had gone to bed. He thought about telling Booster. 

Of course, that could be dangerous for Booster more than him. Booster was his best friend, but he was Max’s friend too, and Ted couldn’t rule out the possibility that if Booster was told, he’d go to Max to get the full story. Of course, Booster blundering into Max’s home spouting accusations was likely to get him shot, and Ted didn’t think Booster would be coming back from that. 

He set a text asking if Booster wanted to get lunch with him, and headed to Kord Industries, where no doubt there was a stack of work waiting for him. The fact that Max’s building was across the street didn’t worry him at all. It wasn’t like Max made a habit of coming over to talk to him. In fact, they only talked if they happened to walk into the local coffee shop at the same time. 

As expected, the stack of papers on his desk almost reached up to the ceiling, and that wasn’t counting everything that got sent to him by email. Just enough boring work to do to keep him busy. Just enough- 

Ted managed to fill out three forms before boredom overtook him, and he took a glance at his window. Max’s office was on the same floor as his, he could see him from here. 

He was doing the used car salesman act. Someone, Ted wasn’t quite sure who at this distance, was with him, and Max was trying to secure a deal. Of course, the sleazy used car (or snake oil? Used oil?) salesman act was just that, an act. 

Or was it? Ted tapped his chin with his pen, why would Max use it at work, if it was just to lull all the heroes into a false sense of security, surely the cold and dangerous personality would be better for a CEO. He watched as the man moved his arms in an animated fashion, trying to figure him out. 

“Mister Kord?” A voice came from behind him, and he whirled around to see Jeremiah looking at him with concern. “We have people to do the corporate espionage for you.” 

“Heh,” He said, a far cry from his usual laugh. He didn’t really feel like laughing at the moment, though, “We have people watching Max’s office?” 

“...Max’s?” 

Well. Shit. Ted was so worked up; he’d forgotten about the whole secret identity thing. Ted Kord was definitely not on a first name (nickname, really) basis with Maxwell Lord. He needed to think of a convincing lie and quick. 

“We had dinner together last week.” 

“Oh,” and that one word sounded like there had been a whole other misunderstanding. “Ted, you need to sign off on the tests before we can do anything, worry about your boyfriend after work.” 

He groaned, throwing his head back, as he was once again left to his own devices. Really, he needed to see about making Wally his assistant, it was the only way he was going to get free time anytime soon. When he glanced back at the window, Max was standing right by it, watching him. 

Had he sensed Ted’s eyes on him? Ted really hoped not. 

But then Max smiled at him, the same sleazy smile he was used to after years of working with the man, except, it seemed so much more menacing now. 

Ted panicked, grabbing the control for the blinds, and closed them. It probably looked suspicious as hell, but he didn’t think that Max was about to come over and ask about it. 

* * *

Max came over to ask about it. 

He didn’t even give Ted the chance to escape by phoning first, he breezed into the building, blithely ignored security as they asked what he thought he was doing, ignored Angie, as she tried to tell him that Ted already had an appointment, he just breezed into the room, one glare sending the employee Ted was talking to packing. 

Well, that, and the mind control. Max wiped away a trail of blood as he advanced on Ted’s desk. 

He didn’t have a gun, he couldn’t have a gun, he’d just come out of his own building, surely, he didn’t take a weapon to work. But then, this was Max, he could make Ted kill himself with something on his desk if he wanted to. 

“Why do you look so worried?” The man in question asked, an unreadable smile on his face. “Can’t I come over to visit an old friend?” 

Ted swallowed, he was being suspicious, he needed to get his head in the game before the older man started looking askance at him. “You can come over, but I’d really prefer that you didn’t mind control the head of accounting while doing so.” 

Max looked vaguely hurt. “You were the one watching me from all the way over here, how was I supposed to take that, other than an invitation to come see my favorite chubby insect immediately?” 

He had no idea how to respond to that. 

“Unless you were engaging in some corporate espionage... really Ted, you should have _people_ for that.” 

“Neither of those, I’m afraid, I promised Booster lunch, but I just remembered that I forgot to give myself a salary. I thought maybe if I invited our sugar daddy...” 

That made Max blink. “You didn’t.” He said, but he didn’t sound like he was totally sure. 

Ted decided to let him stew on that, taking a drink from the bottle of water on his desk. 

“You didn’t,” Max said again, looking genuinely worried. “You couldn’t.” 

“Why did you think the head of accounting was here?” 

“No. This is a Bwa-ha-ha moment. You cannot possibly be that stupid. You can’t.” 

“Hm,” Ted hummed, “well, to be honest, I was just thinking about asking you to come, but you’re probably busy.” 

“I’m always busy,” the older man said, but his voice was suddenly a lot softer. It was enough to make a guy think he really cared about him when that was all nothing but a lie. “Tell you what, Ted, meet me outside my building at 12.” 

As Max left, Ted had to think... two people had mentioned the whole corporate espionage thing today. It might be a way to gather evidence, if Max was stupid enough to leave anything lying around his office, that was.


End file.
